Do you rent a house (not a flat)? Can we talk?

[DexyMidnight]

Hello

DH and I will be renting out our 3/4 bed (4th is a box room) victorian semi-detached house in zone 4 London towards the end of this year for work relocation reasons. The house has quite a large, fairly mature garden (this is relevant!)

We have some experience of being landlords, but have only ever rented out a very new 2 bed 2 bath purpose built flat, which is managed by a touch wood good and diligent management company.

We both rented for years ourselves, but only ever flats, so neither of us have experience of who is responsible for what when renting out a house with a garden, and I wondered if I could canvass MN opinion as to what is normal.

Does your lease require you to do very basic gardening, e.g. mow the lawn, clear leaves, keep on top of weeds? If so, did you have to bring/buy your own lawnmower and rake and fork? (To be clear, I am not expecting green fingered tenants who lovingly water and prune the plants etc etc, we would just like to avoid an overgrown jungle)

Finally, could you let me know if, as a tenant, you would prefer to be given an allowance to put towards your own white goods, a reduction on the rent (for bringing your own white goods) or whether you would want these to be in situ? We are happy to buy new white goods but my husband reckons a tenant may wish to choose their own (e.g. washer/dryer or just washer).

Any advice / opinions welcome!

TIA

Oh sorry, I missed that you would still be there.

I think it is fine to say that they will be replaced. I wouldn’t struggle to believe it.

We rent. We've never had a garden but contracts all seem to say it's the tenants responsibility to maintain outdoor space. Therefore I would expect to maintain an average garden myself. But if it's quite big then perhaps some help towards the cost of a gardener would be appealing.

In terms of white goods, I'd much prefer to have all my own. We've lived in places where they were provided and they were awful, filthy, old and hardly worked. Where we live now came completely unfurnished, including no white goods, not even a built in cooker. It meant we were able to buy our own, and could get what we wanted ourselves.
I would never expect an allowance towards the cost of them or a reduction in rent though. Presumably when a tenant leaves they will take their own white goods with them? So why should you be out of pocket for something you may not always benefit from? (When we leave our current house - hopefully we won't be here forever, would like to buy somewhere bigger one day - we will be taking all our stuff with us).

Thanks HappyMummy that all makes sense.

Even pulling weeds when you're not into gardening and it's not your house feels like a major chore.

This. I have given up on my rented mature garden. Previous tenants had let a few weeds get established. Now it is a losing battle trying to maintain it. I like gardening but if this was my own garden I'd dig up large areas to get rid of the weeds, but I can't do that.

In answer to your question, our landlord left a lawnmower.

Our last rented house had a large garden. The rent Included grass cutting. The beds weren't in any condition when we moved in, full of brambles. I love gardening and enjoyed clearing the flowerbeds knowing the grass would always be mowed it motivated me to do other areas and keep them looking good

We rent a house with a large garden and LL pays for gardener. I have no idea how to garden snd I don't have the time for it.

We also have rented unfurnished for years but it's totally my expectation that white goods are in situ. Worst case is we buy all the bits then move out into another rental that provides them!

OP just be aware that if you leave tools etc and they break, you are obliged to replace them.
I thought briefly about renting out my house and moving somewhere smaller. I was advised that if I was to leave anything behind eg TVs then I'd have to repair/replace.

I think the white goods issue is area dependant. See what other rental houses in your area have.

Here white goods aren't provided and so anyone who had previously lived independently would be put off by it as they would have all their own white goods.

Garden - I would definitely include a gardener in the rent - most tenants simply won't maintain a mature garden.

When we rented out our large house in London for work reasons, our tenants agreed to keep on our cleaner as part of the contract. She was very helpful to them because she knew how everything worked .

We moved back into a house that looked as we left it.

We rent and are responsible for the upkeep of the garden at a basic level (cutting the grass, playing flowerbeds if we choose to), but the landlord pays and arranged for someone to come and cut back large bushes with a hedge cutter when required.

In terms of white goods I always prefer for these to be provided by the landlord. That way if something breaks I don’t need to organise/pay for repair/replacement, my landlord does. I think most places come with white goods as far as I know.